Coal ash plan needs a watchful eye

Duke Power and Asheville Regional Airport both are coming out ahead with the use of coal ash from Duke's Skyland power plant to help create new level land at the airport. There probably is no danger to the public, but the fill must be monitored constantly to be sure that is the case.

Duke had a problem. It was running out of space to store coal ash, a byproduct of electricity generation. The two ponds at the Skyland plant were being filled up. Ten percent of the coal received winds up as ash.

The airport also had a problem. It needs more level land if it is to develop additional services, such as a cargo facility. It could buy fill, but that is expensive when you're dealing with the quantities needed in Western North Carolina's topography.

The solution was obvious. Nearly all of the ash in the 91 acres of ponds at the power plant will be used as fill to expand the airport first on the north end and later on the southwest, a total of nearly 40 acres. The ash will be contained by polyethylene and covered with soil.

Many environmentalists agree with the principles that the protections in the fill design are state-of-the-art. Julie Mayfield, co-director of the WNC Alliance, said the work is being done to "the highest standard we know how to."

"I feel pretty good about how they're doing it now, and I have a hard time complaining now," said Hartwell Carson, the French Broad Riverkeeper. "They're getting ash from the power plant, which has almost no pollution controls. So, it's actually better at the airport than it is at the power plant."

That point is well-taken. The state has sued Duke Energy/Progress (Duke and Progress merged since the ash project was begun), claiming that the coal ash ponds are polluting groundwater and the French Broad River with toxic metals and the dikes containing the ash are leaking.

Others, especially neighbors of the project, are skeptical. "I'm really concerned because I have children, and I'm wondering if it's safe," said Erika Rodriguez, who lives near the north end of the airport. "And I think we have the right to know, for our safety."

"It worries me about the lead and arsenic and different things," said Gail Green, a neighbor of Rodriguez. "That worries me with the well. My grandchildren are around, and I drink it, the animals."

Duke/Progress and the state both cite precautions. The polyethylene that helps contain the ash is a thick, heavy-duty material heat-welded together, said Jason Walls, district manager for the Asheville area with Duke/Progress. It is the best material available, he added.

"The permit has specific conditions - making certain no leachate is coming out of the ash, and also making certain precipitation is pushed away from the ash structural fill," said Landon Davidson of the N.C. Division of Water Quality. "And there is groundwater monitoring required on the site."

And we've seen state-of-the-art solutions before that didn't work out. "Even the best-laid plans can go awry in implementation," Mayfield said. "I have no reason to believe plans are going to go awry, but frequently it's only 10 or 20 years down the road we learn this wasn't enough."

In other words, go ahead, but keep watching.

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Coal ash plan needs a watchful eye

Duke Power and Asheville Regional Airport both are coming out ahead with the use of coal ash from Duke's Skyland power plant to help create new level land at the airport.